Tackling the Lows & Stresses that Life Throws at You

After completing my first semester at university and my first set of exams, I’ve learnt a lot about dealing with the unexpected and the times where you may not feel as happy as you might have wished. Life is full of stresses and the occasional low, it’s part of living; but there are ways that you can tackle them so that they don’t affect you and bring you down as much as they could do. It’s not something that’s suddenly going change tomorrow, but just doing the little things can help make a big difference in your wellbeing and your general happiness.

Don’t Push Away The People You Love

If you’re going through a little bit of a rough patch, it’s totally normal to want to shut yourself away from people, to hide in your own mind and to escape whatever you’re going through. When we do this, we have the tendency to shut our friends, family and all the people we love out from our lives. I’m simply speaking from experience. I do this whenever I feel low because I don’t want people to worry about me and I definitely feel that being lonely is the only way to feel better in some weird way. I’m still learning how to open the doors to the people around me when I’m feeling down. What I’ve started to grasp is that when I talk to my friends and the people I love about what I’m going through or what makes me feel down, the weight is lifted off my chest and I feel that I can “breathe” again in some weird way. It’s so hard to open up to people because it can feel like that they might leave you if they really find out what is going on in your life, the truth is, if they like you or love you enough, they will never leave no matter what you’re going through. Your loved ones are there to help you get through your rough patch, it’s more hurtful to them if you push them away than telling them the truth about how you really feel.

Friends and loved ones are like having pillars that hold a house up, the more pillars there are the less likely the roof is going to fall. They’re there to keep you from falling and they’re going to be there if you do hit a rough patch. Someone once told me that if people are willing to be there for you when you’re going through a difficult time, then use them! They know what they’re getting themselves into so you don’t need to feel guilty, they want to help you! Why push someone away when they want to stay? So all I can say is don’t push people away, because it will hurt you and them more if you did let them go.

It’s NEVER the End of the World

Okay, so this is something I have a really bad habit on, I always think that if something doesn’t go to plan that it is TOTALLY the end of the world. Literally, it’s not! 😉 No matter how bad things seem to be, it’s never as bad as you think. I know it can feel like you’re falling apart and the world around you is crumbling, I’ve been there. But I’ve also learnt that it’s NEVER as bad as you think. My Mum always told me that there was always going to be a solution to a problem, even if a solution is a slight compromise, it’s still a solution ! How do you find that solution? The trick is to take a step back and to take a new perspective on things. Taking things into perspective is literally just realising that things aren’t as bad as they seem, there will always be someone out there with something far worse than you’ve got. You might think that not getting the grades you want is the worst thing that ever happened, but compared to someone who’s just been told that they have terminal cancer you’re just doing fine! Life isn’t always going to be fair, there are going to be times that you just wished that you could have it better, but the reality is there is someone out there with far worse problems than you and sometimes thats all you need to realise that it’s really not the end of the world. Everything can be sorted and everything will be okay!

It’s Okay Not To Be Okay

Someone once told me that it’s okay not to be okay. Of course it’s not nice to feel low and stressed but everyone feels that way sometime, it’s not an unusual thing to feel a little lost every now and again. It’s simply part of life. Beating yourself up about feeling down is just going to make things worse; you’ll just end up going into some downward spiral of negative thoughts which will just make you feel worse. I know it can be hard, speaking from experience it’s never easy to get out of a negative mind frame, but the best thing to do is to try and NOT beat yourself up. It’s not your fault that you feel the way you do, humans are wired to have these feelings, it’s the body’s mechanism to help deal with difficult times and situations. So how can you feel better? Talk things out, talking is the best way to help clear your mind and dig yourself out of a negative mindset. I totally understand that it can be hard to open up to the people around you, either due to the fear of hurting them, being judged or you simply may find it difficult to open up. Never be embarrassed about how you are truly feeling, we’re human so we have feelings and we are allowed to feel down, so please don’t beat yourself up about it! Even if you don’t know why you maybe feeling the way you are, these things happen but you can’t let it consume you and eat away at you. Let it out and let it go, the best way to feel better is to acknowledge how you are feeling; only then will you be able to move forward.

If you take anything from this blog post, please don’t torture yourself or feel guilty for the way you feel. Just try to understand how you feel and talk to someone ! <3

I must admit, this blog post was a little difficult to write at times because it hits close to home; but I know that some people find these kind of things difficult to talk about so if you can read about it I just hope I could help you in any way to get through whatever tough patch you maybe going through!

Just remember to stay positive and playful, you’ll get through whatever you’re finding difficult. I promise <3